1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper cassette used in an image forming apparatus such as a printer, and more particularly, to a paper cassette removably mounted in a body of an image forming apparatus in which papers loaded therein are separated by a finger.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus such as a printer generally needs to feed papers with an appropriate size to print a wanted image. To feed the papers, papers of appropriate size are loaded in a paper cassette, and the paper cassette having the loaded paper is mounted in the printer.
FIG. 1 shows one example of the above paper cassette. Referring to FIG. 1, the paper cassette 10 includes a case 12, fingers 14 and a pressing plate 16. The case 12 has a rectangular shape and is formed to be appropriate to loaded papers.
The fingers 14 are provided at both front corners of the case 12 so that the fingers 14 can press on both front corners of a paper. The fingers 14 are formed in the manner that the paper is separated one by one by a pick-up roller (not shown) placed at the upper side of the paper cassette 10 when the paper cassette 10 is mounted in a body of the image forming apparatus (not shown).
The pressing plate 16 is installed at the base plane of the case 12 and presses loaded papers against the fingers 14. A spring 18 to press the pressing plate 16 towards the fingers 14 is provided under the pressing plate 16.
When papers are loaded at the above paper cassette 10, both front corners of the papers press the fingers 14 with regular force by the pressing plate 16. When the paper cassette 10 having papers loaded therein is mounted in the image forming apparatus, the papers are separated one by one by the pick-up roller and the fingers 14.
However, when papers 1 are loaded in the above paper cassette 10, both front corners 1a of the papers 1 are caught by the fingers 14 as shown in FIG. 2. In this case, the front corners 1a of the papers 1, which are caught by the fingers 14, are bent or crumpled. When the front corners 1a of the papers 1 are crumpled, the papers 1 might be caught or become crooked in movement to cause a jam of the papers 1.